Deathwatch 2008: Picture it...Sicily...1938...

Sadly, it was announced that Estelle Getty passed away in her LA home this morning, just a few days shy of her 85th birthday. Getty had suffered with Lewy Body Dementia for years and has been out of the public eye for some time. She was surrounded by loved ones.

Although she'd been an actor since the late 70s, Getty was best known as the sassy Sicilian senior Sophia Petrilla on the Golden Girls (one of my all time favorite TV shows) for which she was nominated seven years in a row for an Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series EMMY (winning in 1998) and nominated three times for a Golden Globe for Best Performance By An Actress In A TV Series (Won/Tied with Cybill Shepard in 1986).

You will be missed, Estelle. Thank you for entertaining me all those years.